From fancy steak restaurants to popular established fast-food joints, these once omnipresent establishments took a massive nosedive and are either gone or on life-support. But the memories still remain. If you remember any of these food locations then revel in the nostalgia & the glory.

The Mexican restaurant Chi-Chi’s was founded in 1975, but now only actually operates outside of the US (mostly Europe). Fun fact, in November 2003, a month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chi-Chi’s was hit with the largest hepatitis A outbreak in U.S. history. That didn’t help matters. The restaurant closed all of its 65 US locations in 2004, except for one which remained open until 2011.

A&W Restaurants, Inc. is a chain of fast-food restaurants noted for its draft root beer and root beer floats. Created in the 1920s, this franchise had more locations than McDonald’s by the ’70s, with well over 2,000 restaurants. The A&W brand is still around today, but it’s a far cry from the conglomerate establishment it was at its peak.

Who doesn’t remember the giant statue of the pudgy kid with perfectly coiffed hair holding a burger? This iconic franchise from the 1930s went belly-up in 2000, however, the trademark was reincarnated and you can find new restaurants in Japan, with a few holdouts still standing in the US.

Bennigan’s, ah yes, the Irish equivalent to the modern day Applebee’s is a pub-themed casual dining restaurant chain founded in 1976. The company’s failure from executives to update and evolve the restaurant concept for over twenty years led to significant sales drop and customer visit declines. Currently, Bennigan’s operates 23 domestic and 39 international locations in eight other countries. So it’s still around, but limping.

Oh, Rax, sweet sweet Rax, which also happens to be the impetus for this entire gallery. The U.S. fast-food restaurant chain, based out of Ironton, Ohio, opened its doors in 1982. At its peak the redneck version of Arby’s, had grown to 504 locations in 38 states. But the company got a bit too ambitious diversifying its core roast beef menu by adding: baked potatoes, pizza and a dinner bar with pasta, Chinese-style food, taco bar, an “Endless Salad Bar”, and a dessert bar, to name a few (not to mention the infamous mascot, Uncle Alligator, found in all the kid’s meals). The sole intention of this transformation was to be known by the public as the “champagne of fast food.” Red flags anybody?

This massive menu overhaul ended up driving away its core working-class customers, blurred their core business, and caused profits to plummet. Currently, most locations have closed in the last decade, leaving only eight locations in the US.

Burger Chef popped up around the same time as McDonald’s in 1954. In climbed to over 1,000 locations by the ’70s, but was gradually sold off to Hardee’s in the ’80s and the remaining restaurants that did not convert to Hardee’s branding were simply shut down. Brutal.

Founded in Dallas, in 1966, Steak and Ale had over 280 locations all over the US at its height in the ’80s. However, the company that owned it, S&A Restaurant Group brand, went bankrupt in 2008 (that same company also owned Ponderosa Steakhouse, and Bennigan’s). However, in 2013, a Facebook page was created by Steak and Ale and Bennigan’s CEO Paul Mangiamele who announced that the chain will be part of a comeback concept, so hold out hope all you midwestern dads out there.

9

Naugles:

Naugles was a Southern California fast-food Mexican restaurant around from 1970 to 1995 which later converted to Del Taco in the mid-’90s. A few of the Naugles dishes, such as the “Macho” & the Naugles Taco Sandwich (Del Taco called it a “bun taco”) are still on the regular Del Taco menu today. Rumor on the streets is there is currently an attempt being made to revive the old Naugles brand. So we’ll see how that plays out.

This ’50s restaurant had 1,117 outlets in 47 American states, by 1979, however, a controversy over the name being racist against African-Americans sparked nationwide protest that eventually caused a re-branding to “The Jolly Tiger”. The chain went bankrupt in the 80s. The chain’s notoriety was parodied in ‘F is for Family’ as “Sam’s Starving Boy”, with its look resembling many of the 1970’s locations, and its mascot being a cartoon slave.

Created in 1934 by Edward Gold, with its first location in Bloomington, Indiana (shout out to my alma mater, IU!). The chain expanded rapidly and grew to 1,500 locations worldwide at its height in the 70s. Sadly, the chain dried up completely in the US by 1977, and only a few locations still stand in places like the UK today.

Once a hotel company from the 1950s, the brand diversified into a whole chain of restaurants. Marriott purchased the hotel & later eliminated all the company-owned restaurants, leaving only a handful of franchised-owned restaurants that kept afloat for a while, but were in desperate need of updating. The last restaurant closed down in 2000.

In the 60s, this chain outnumbered McDonald’s with the catchphrase “Aren’t you hungry for a Henry’s?”. But due to mergers, ownership changes, and the failure to add popular features like drive-thru pickup, or diversifying menu items like competitors, it quickly lost the fast-food game. There is only one location open today.

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